First Time in Gallery Show

This past Friday I attended Scott Church's 11th Annual Legacy Show. My first time, really. First time going to a photography show away from home. Plus, the first time having my work included in the gallery along with 100+ photographers. 

Me before my three bird prints. The branch one on the left is my daughter's, Kirstin Renee.

My husband and my daughter talked me into it. The second of which also hung her photography in the show. 

Kirstin in front of her print titled, "Endicott".

At first, I thought my photos were out of place. Most framed prints were of models, many nudes, in various poses and surroundings. Scattered here and there were landscape and concept photos. Unless I missed something, mine were the only wildlife images. I felt better when the crowd started coming in and there was some real interest in my photography. Especially, my eagle photo. A spur of the moment addition since I took the photo only a few days before. Hey, I had a great model for that one. He wasn't at all shy about a camera.   

I'll admit I could have done better. In my social skills, that is. Kirstin jumped right in whenever she saw someone taking an interest in our work. She had no problems striking up a conversation. I felt like I was out of my element. I'm used to being a behind the scenes artist. The photography scene is new to me. I have lots to learn.  It seemed like most photographers and models knew each other and, for the most part, stuck together. Even so, most who stopped to talk were nice.  A few other first timers talked with us. So did a few who've been a part of the past shows. 

There was one person though (and it seems there's always at least one), who was pretty vocal.

"Amateur, amateur, amateur..." he said as he went down the line pointing at every photo. "You see, they put all the professionals downstairs and the amateurs up here." Is what he said to his companion. As I understood it, they put the first ones there downstairs and had to eventually move upstairs too. Obviously, close friends, and such, were going to be put on the 1st floor. Either way, he seemed awfully rude as he did this in front of the photographers. It was unnecessary and in poor taste.

All in all, it was an interesting night and it was great to be included. If asked, I'd probably do it again. Being more prepared the next time.

--Trace

Sunday Photography - Bluejays

Finally, I was able to go outside and play with my camera this weekend. While I wasn't fast enough to catch photos of a hummingbird in between all the goings on, I was able to get photos of a couple bluejays.

At first, they were shy. Unlike the sparrows and grackles, the bluejays kept to the trees while I filled the bird feeders and tossed peanuts here and there. I don't blame them. The length of the 70-300mm camera lens when it was fully extended probably seemed as if I was trying to shoot something at them, rather than take a photo. But by Sunday, although still cautious, they came down more often while I was in the yard. One showed plenty of curiosity of what I was doing.

I have plenty of photos to use as reference for eventual paintings. I think some would be great as they are for prints and cards. The first on this page is one such photo.

Here's another:

 

I don't know if I'd count myself a great photographer yet. I'm sure I have a long way to go. I do know that I was bored of taking photos of birds sitting on the ground, or feeders. So, I'm playing with camera settings to get better shots of birds in flight.  I thought I might need a longer lens, especially for smaller birds like sparrows and chickadees. Too expensive. For now, I'll just have to get in a little closer.

What ever your thoughts on bluejays, I think they make wonderful photo and paint subjects. Don't you?

Beauty in Bloom

     Daisies are one of my favorite types of flowers. They have a way of brightening up a room, adding cheer, and simply bringing a smile. It doesn't hurt that it is also the flower for the month my grandfather, my granddaughter and I were born.

      As it turns out, my daughter brought me daisies for my birthday. The tips had colors of pinks, blues, purples and yellow. I had to get photos of them (and, of course, play with my new macro lenses). Beauty in Bloom is an example of one of the fantastic images. Now that Spring is here, I hope to get plenty more flower photos and include a painting, or two.

     Prints and greeting cards for "Beauty in Bloom" are available at:

      Tracey R Gates - Fine Art


-Trace

Mystical Sky

Just after Christmas I decided to buy a new camera. My point-and-shoot camera (an Olympus SP-590UZ) was good, but I wanted better control, the ability to change lenses, and larger megapixels for taking photos of my artwork for prints. After looking at the specs. between a Canon Rebel T3i 600D and a Nikon D5100, I decided on the Canon Rebel.

While it's true that it's not the camera, but the photographer, that determines a photos outcome, it sure doesn't hurt to have a good one from the start. I love it and am thrilled to find many tutorials online that help me discover the photographer in me. Can't wait to use it when we go to Florida again this Spring. It already was worth the price for how clear the photos came out for some of my fantasy paintings.

Look at this photo art of my darling granddaughter, Emma.


I did this with a 18-55mm lens with settings to focus on her and make everything else around her slightly blurred. The room was dark with one lamp on. The only change I made in my software was to shrink the size. Not too bad for one of my first tries with the camera. Of course, it helps to have a good subject to photograph.

A couple days ago I stumbled across a forum discussion about HDR (High Dynamic Range). Another thing I bought around last Christmas was Paintshop Pro X4. I've been a big fan of Paintshop since version 5 while it was still created by Jasc. Yet, I didn't realize there was HDR on some of the other versions I owned until running across the discussion. It piqued my interest.

So, I just had to go outside, in the 30 degree weather, and test out my camera's functions for this. As what seems to be the usual now for this time of year in upstate New York, we had grey skies. My fingers were freezing, but I was able to get a few nice photos of the clouds with a hint of sun using the Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) setting. [Note: It's not a good idea to aim your camera directly at the sun. For the safety of the camera and your own eyes.] AEB on the T3i takes three photos of the same shot, but with different exposures ranging from underexposed, normal, and overexposed. One will be full of detail, but not enough light. Another will have plenty of light/brightness, but not much in the way of detail. Then there is the normal shot in between that is a mixture of both.

Once I had the photos I wanted, I transferred them to my computer and opened up PSP. Without going into full details since there are tutorials for this all over the internet, I opened the photos under HDR, merged them, and played with the different settings until I found an image I liked. I also added a little bit more color to it to make it more painterly... Artsy.

The result is the "Mystical Sky" clouds digital art you see at the beginning of this post. It's probably a bit simple and not what HDR experts would be excited about, but I like it and am planning to get a print of experimental photography art to put on my wall.

My first love is traditional pencil, watercolor and acrylic art, but I also enjoy photography and see it as an add on to my artistic creativity.


- Trace

Fine Art Prints

© 2012 Tracey R Gates

In an artist group that I'm part of I recently asked about printers. Specifically, home printers that can handle heavier paper than photo, such as inkjet canvas, or fine art paper. My reason for this is that I'd like to have more control over prints of my artwork. To make sure that the colors in the print matches to the colors in my original artwork before selling to a client. Not only that, but sometimes I put my art on fabric and add it to some of my sewing designs, but the printer I have now tends to jam.

Before I knew it, my original post turned into a long discussion from fellow artists about whether, or not it is cost worthy to do the printing yourself, or to have someone else do it for you. Not exactly what I was asking. I seem to run into this more than not when I think I have a simple question. So, I'm still on the hunt for the perfect professional printer that will do what I want without breaking the bank.

In the meantime, I've set up some of my art for prints through professional printers. (Thank you, Abril Andrade Griffith).  You'll find art prints, acrylic prints, framed and canvas prints of some of my artwork and nature photos at Tracey R Gates Fine Art  ( http://tracey-r-gates.artistwebsites.com/). Including the bird bath photo above.

In My Garden

Last month I decided to play with the camera I bought in March. It didn't take long before I had a group of bug close up photos. The bee in the photos was barely bigger than a flea. I love how these photos came out so much I had prints made for my living room.